Lanterns In The Rain

There was a road-trip to Edinburgh while Mom was here.  Of course.  And the three of us go to the zoo whenever we get the chance.  I’d wanted to Isla to see the Giant Lanterns of China since they arrived at the zoo.  And I thought taking my Mom would be a chance to make some groovy memories.

Except the trails were too much walking for Mom so she couldn’t come.  The zoo did offer Mom a wheelchair, but with mine as well, that would have made for an interesting convoy.

Whenever we go to the zoo, there’s a minibus service from top to bottom, which I assumed would be how we would be enjoying the lanterns together.  I imagined some  kind of lantern safari where we’d see everything from the bus, out of the rain.

There was no such thing.  The minibus wasn’t on, to make room for the extra crowds of people.

It was Mom’s last night with us, and I wanted to do something together.  I also wanted to see Isla’s face when she saw the lanterns.  Mom made us go.

All night, I felt like a horrible daughter and a mediocre mother.  I passed every lit up thing of beauty, ‘Mom would LOVE this.  Mom should see this.  Fer chrissake, could it rain any harder?’

And I did cry.  Because it was beautiful.  And Isla did love it.  I’m glad we went, but it was Mom’s last night, and you can’t yet be two places at once.

Here are the photos I showed Mom when got back.

What you don’t see is the torrential rain, and the crowds, and somewhat surprising for a lantern festival, really badly-lit pathways.

Dragonflies

Butterflies.

Not The Lion King.

There be dragons.

A chameleon while it was purple!

A blue frog

An obligatory thistle.

Full of thoughts.

I always find the purple.

This is where I cried.

Did you really think there’d be no penguins?

The world is small.

This post is not sponsered by Edinburgh Zoo.  We just like shiny things.